The intersection of art and design is a fascinating space where creativity and functionality meet. It is a place where artists and designers unite to create beautiful, innovative, and practical objects that serve a purpose beyond aesthetics.
In this space, artists bring their unique perspectives and skills to the table, creating works that are not only visually stunning but also thought-provoking.
On the other hand, designers bring their expertise in problem-solving and functionality to ensure that the final product meets the needs of its users. The result is often a seamless blend of form and function that transcends traditional boundaries between art and design.
Andrée Putman was a French interior designer, furniture designer, and entrepreneur. She was born in Paris. Putman was probably best known internationally for her black and white palette, illustrated by the 1985 interior of Morgans Hotel in New York. It was commissioned by the entrepreneurs Ian Schrager and Steve Rubell.Read More →
Through the lens of Kakemono, we not only appreciate Japanese artistry but also understand the underpinnings of the culture that has given birth to it. The fluidity and grace of these hanging scrolls stand testament to the rich tapestry of Japan’s historical and artistic legacy.Read More →
Daniel Cottier: Pioneering stained glass artist and entrepreneur who revolutionized the craft in the 19th century. His innovative designs, collaborations with architects, and entrepreneurial spirit laid the foundation for modern stained glass. Learn about his legacy, preservation efforts, and the ongoing appreciation of his remarkable works.Read More →
“Glasgow School’ is a term used to describe several groups of artists based in Glasgow. The first and most significant of these groups was a loose association of artists active from around 1880 to the turn of the century; there was no formal membership or programme, but the artists involved (who prefered to be known as the Glasgow Boys) were united by a desire to move away from the conservative and parochial values they believed the Royal Scottish Academy in Edinburgh represented. The group’s most well-known members were Sir James Guthrie (1859–1930) and Sir John Lavery. Several of them had lived and worked in France, and they were proponents of outdoor painting. The group’s heydey was gone by 1900, and it did not survive the First World War. Still, it offered a significant spur for Scottish art in the twentieth century, paving the way for the Scottish Colourists. From roughly 1890 through 1910, a slightly later group created a different style of Art Nouveau. Charles Rennie Mackintosh, the architect and designer, was its most significant member.Read More →
Keith Haring was best known for his graffiti-like painting, initially on the black paper used to cover discontinued billboard advertisements in the New York subway. After after a feverish 1980’s style career of surging popular success and grudging critical attention, Haring died of AIDS in 1991 at the age of 31.Read More →
By The Scala GroupRead More →
The impact of Beardsley, considered the greatest illustrator of the Art Noveau period, is due solely to his erotic imagination and marvellous control of line drawing.Read More →
Hiroshi Awatsuji (1929- 1995) was a Japanese textile and graphic designer: born in Kyoto. He was considered the first Japanese textile designer to be recognised for contemporary design rather than for traditional art and craft. The main characteristic of his work was over sized motifs.Read More →
I saw La La Land this weekend and Damien Chazelle musical is brilliant and emotional tribute to the 1950’s musical. Visually stunning eye candy for my inner graphic designer. Not so much a visual re-imaging of Los Angeles as a opportunity to see it through an artists eye. Chazelles last film, “Whiplash”used Jazz as a tool to explore ambition, the price of achieving excellence. Read More →
The lightsaber, an iconic design icon in the Star Wars franchise, represents a blend of technology, mythology, tradition, and innovation. Its sleek, minimalist design contrasts with its vivid energy blade, symbolizing the Jedi Order and the Force’s mystical power. The vibrant colors of the lightsaber’s blades carry symbolic weight, indicating character alignment and intent. The lightsaber’s legacy has inspired real-life innovations and reimagined various forms across media, showcasing the power of design in creating meaningful objects.Read More →
This amazing tee features the iconic Mexican artist Frida Kahlo, in grayscale, but with the lips and the roses in colours, creating a beautiful contrast. Inspired by Mexico’s popular culture, she employed a naïve folk art style to explore questions of identity, postcolonialism, gender, class and race in Mexican society.Read More →
The arrangements of flowers offer far more than a pattern employing flowers and foliage neatly distributed in an appropriate container.
Not only is it a form of relaxation, but flower arrangement reawakens an awareness of nature upon which a philosophy – that of restraint and simplicity — is based.Read More →
One of my favourite pinup artists was Minnesota born Duane Bryers, creator of the famous Hilda, a pleasingly, popular and plump pinup girl. Bryers’ background was as interesting as his illustrations. Born in northern Michigan, he excelled at acrobatics as a child. His family moved to Virginia, Minnesota, at 12 and he soon had the neighbourhood gang putting on the “Jingling Brothers circus, complete with burlap-sack sidewalls.Read More →
Op art is a style of modern art that emerged in the 1960s, using optical effects to play with the viewer’s perception. It was led by Richard Anuszkiewicz, Bridget Riley, and Victor Vasarely, and had a significant impact on graphic and interior design. Interest in op art has decreased since its heyday, making it seem like a historical event.Read More →
Four architects—Andrea Branzi, Gilberto Corretti, Paolo Deganello, Massimo Morozzi—and two designers—Dario Bartolini and Lucia Bartolini—founded Archizoom this Italian avant-garde design studio in 1966 in Florence, Italy. They focused on exhibition installations and architecture and designing interiors and goods as part of the Italian Anti-Design or Radical Design movement.Read More →
The Painting of John F. Kennedy and Pope John XXIII, entitled the “Peace Sowers,” was done by Walter Molino (1915 – 1997). Molino shows the men moving hand-in-hand through a plowed field scattering “seeds of goodwill.” Molino’s placard underneath the painting reads;Read More →
Tachisme is frequently used interchangeably with art informel or Lyrical Abstraction to refer to the abstract art movement that flourished in Europe, particularly France, in the late 1940s and 1950s.Read More →
Cubism was one of the most important art styles in the West this century. It started when Picasso and BraqueRead More →
Kolman Moser was an Austrian, designer, metal worker and graphic designer. He was born in Vienna.
He designed for the Wiener Mode and in 1895 with other artists produced the Allegories set of folio volumes. It was during this time that he met Gustav Klimt.Read More →
Van Gogh is one of my favourite artists. The painting “Starry Night” is one of his most beloved. It is an authentic landscape and a projection of Van Gogh’s inner being. Vortexes of deep azure spin around stars and a crescent moon. A giant green, black cypress tree blows in the wind. Read More →